Website: Rapid TV News

A plan by News Corp’s Star India to up its stake in Indian DTH operator Tata Sky has run into regulatory trouble.

India’s government has reportedly decided not to support Star’s proposal to create a joint venture vehicle with the Tata Group through which Star would increase its stake in the operator.

Star has withdrawn its JV proposal from consideration by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

While Star may return to the idea at a later date, government concerns that such a move will dilute Indian control of the platform will not be easily assuaged.

Star currently owns 20% of Tata Sky, with the Tata Group holding 70% and Temasek Holdings 10%.

The proposal had envisaged Star buying 49% in the JV, which would then purchase a 20% stake in Tata Sky, giving Star an additional 9.8% in the operator.

However, Star would have held equal voting rights to Tata, thought to be one of the government’s main concerns over the deal.

Foreign investment rules were recently amended, with the government now allowing foreign stakes in DTH operators to rise above 20% if the investment is made through an Indian owned and controlled company.

Original post:
Star withdraws Tata Sky JV proposals

KIT
digital has closed the previously announced sale of 2,980,000 shares of common
stock at $10.50 per share for gross proceeds to the company of $31.3 million.

The net proceeds received by the company are expected to be approximately $28,500,000,
after deducting the proceeds from underwriting discounts, commissions, legal fees,
and deal-related expenses payable by the company.

As previously announced, KIT digital has granted the underwriters of the offering
a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 447,000 shares of common stock to
cover over-allotments, the results of which will be reported upon closing of the over-allotment.

The company plans to use a significant portion of the net proceeds of the offering
to finance acquisitions of, or investments in, competitive and complementary businesses,
as a part of its growth strategy. In addition, the company intends to use a portion
of the net proceeds for working capital and general corporate purposes, which may
include the purchase of certain outstanding warrants issued in prior private placement
financings.

See original here:
KIT digital Closes $31.3 Million Equity Offering

Dailymotion announced
a funding round of $25 million (17 million euros). The round, led by the French Sovereign
Fund and including original investors Advent Venture Partners, AGF Private Equity,
Atlas Venture and Partech International, recognizes Dailymotion’s leading audience
position and sustainable business model. FSI contributed $11M (7.5M euros) to the
round.

Dailymotion already attracts 60 million unique visitors and one billion video views
monthly. The funds will be used to accelerate the company’s growth globally and to
expand its offerings, including to multiple platforms such as mobile and IPTV.

Excerpt from:
Dailymotion Announces $25 Million Funding Round

Ooyala has
closed $10 million of its series C funding round. Current investors, including Sierra
Ventures, participated in the round. New investor, Rembrandt Venture Partners, led
the funding event. As part of the investment, In Sik Rhee, general partner at Rembrandt,
will be joining the Ooyala Board of Directors. With this round, Ooyala has raised
$20 million.

The popularity of online video has surged in Europe over the past twelve months as
more Internet users have access to faster connections. Over 20 per cent of Europe’s
115 million broadband households have watched a film or TV programme online in the
last six months. In the UK, Google sites like YouTube and broadcasters’ catch-up TV
services have made watching online video a mainstream activity. 4.7 billion online
videos were watched in April 2009, an increase of 47 per cent on the previous year.

Ooyala intends to build on the success of its US business and expand its European
operations that already support premium media owner clients such as Premiership Football
club Arsenal FC. Trevor Diamond, head of technology for Arsenal Broadband Ltd stated:
“Having carefully considered the alternatives, we chose Ooyala’s comprehensive end-to-end
video platform as a superior service. It enables us to develop new insights into viewer
behaviours and leaves us with multiple options as to how we monetise our premium content.”

CEO Jay Fulcher and chief technology officer and co-founder Sean Knapp will be speaking
at Streaming
Media Europe, in London on October 15th and 16th.

Here is the original post:
Ooyala Raises $10 Million During its Series C Funding Round

The National
Rural Telecommunications Cooperative announces a strategic investment in Avail
Media for the deployment of IPTV. As part of the same transaction, Avail Media
has completed a merger with TVN Entertainment,
the VOD company. The NRTC investment enables access to all the best programming available
from Hollywood, network providers, and independent producers, as well as ensures members
a stake in a robust, next-generation IPTV transport platform.

Concurrent with this investment, Avail Media completed a merger with TVN Entertainment,
the world’s largest television-on-demand company, reaching over 46 million households
with more than 120 million viewers throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.
With the addition of TVN Entertainment’s service portfolio, the combined company becomes
the largest independent provider of end-to-end content aggregation, management, and
distribution offerings.

NRTC has been a pioneer in introducing advanced telecommunications services to improve
the quality of life in rural America. During the mid-1990s, NRTC provided the first
external funding and led in the launch of DIRECTV, activating nearly 2 million of
its initial subscribers. More recently, NRTC repeated that success by investing in
WildBlue, a satellite Internet access provider, and activating all of WildBlue’s first-year
customers. And last month, NRTC closed an investment and distribution agreement with
DigitalBridge, a leading WiMAX broadband company, to help expand broadband Internet
services to unserved and underserved communities.

Here is the original post:
NRTC Investment to Help Rural Telcos Bring Advanced IPTV to Their Communities